Paper that lets the light
- Enjambment, creates on- going monologue tone.
- The paper is so thin, suggesting the fragility of human power.
Who wrote the poem?
Imtiaz Dharker
What’s the poem about?
It is a critique of human power and is meant to represent the fragility of human power and the strength of natures power.
shine through, this
Symbolic, suggest hope, positive tone.
Paper thinned by age or touching,
- Tactile, language, suggests a very familiar concept.
- Holds thoughts, but words fade over time.
the back of the Koran, where a hand
- Koran, symbolic of culture and religion and also emphasising a major conflict in modern society and the perceived war on Islam.
- Juxtaposes to something done on machine, continues tactile.
has written in the names and histories,
- Emphasis on ‘history’ as central to the theme, emphasis that this has been handed down.
- The power of paper to hold the record of human life. More powerful than the life its got information about as it’s still here long after that life has passed.
died where and how, on which sepia date,
- Sepia meaning faded or yellowed with age. Suggestion of handed down.
- Sepia is a reddish brown pigment or chemical used to preserve photos.
pages smoothed and stroked and turned
- Tactile verbs suggest this is not so much a religious book but a treasured heirloom and connection to family.
- Sibbilance
- On going process
feel their drift, see how easily
Metaphor a paper structure would drift, but also ‘drift’ as in purpose, what they stand for. What they are for.
they fall away on a sigh, a shift
- Transient verbs, reflect movement and change. Personified with ‘sigh’. Suggests it is a good thing that they are could be changeable. They adjust ‘with the wind’ winds of change.
- change in opinion and the way society is run
that rivers make, roads,
- Lists the features of a map and mans need for control, however the poem undermines this idea of creating divides due to the enjambment used.
- Listing, encompasses the man and nature made aspects of the world and how the ‘sun shines’ representing hope and how transparent these things become rather than the permanent object we see them to be.
TISSUE
Metaphor/Double meaning Tissue both as paper but also living tissue and skin.
Fine slips from grocery shops
- Metaphor the familiar and everyday image of groceries represent larger scale socio economics. Our reliance on money and material wealth.
- Money dominates our life, but we don’t take it with us when we move on.
might fly our lives like paper kites.
Flying Kites connotes a childlike innocence and ease. Suggesting perhaps that if we changed our approach to material ownership we would regain that childhood peace of mind.
An architect could use all this,
Symbolic not just of someone who designs buildings but also anyone who makes anything. Metaphor for us all.
place layer over layer, luminous
Enjambment, and semantics of written script listed here gives a tone of excitement and exploration.
or block, but let the daylight break
- Pathetic fallacy, gives the hopeful aspect to the message of the poem through the reuse of light and shining.
- Nature is more powerful.
through the shapes that pride can make,
Personify, pride given a form, suggestion that we, or society as a whole is this ‘pride’.
find a way to trace a grand design
- Biblical reference, suggestive of the bigger picture and a sense of spiritual fulfilment. Suggests that we could be building things that improve our life, not hold us back.
- Gos has a plan for us
with living tissue, raise a structure
Metaphor, for people or society.
never meant to last,
- Ominous, can be an allusion to the horrors of war and terrorism. 9/11, Berlin wall?
- The fragility of human life.
and thinned to be transparent,
Repetition from stanza 3, reminding us of the tactile intimacy of the book but now on a larger scale.
turned into your skin.
Direct address, suggesting that instead of being at conflict with the world around us we create a sense of ownership and shared identity.
